[meteorite-list] Tektites in the Philippines

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Oct 2 19:14:28 2005
Message-ID: <0fq0k1l1osv7dkjg8b7o4sjs7mrujvk0mf_at_4ax.com>

I don't know if anyone on the list is in a location that they could take advantage of this sale, but
it sounds interesting:

http://money.inq7.net/features/view_features.php?yyyy=2005&mon=10&dd=03&file=1

Henry Otley Beyer: Prized artifacts for sale
Posted: 3:00 AM | Oct. 03, 2005
Vincent Cabreza
Inquirer News Service


Publihsed on Page B2-4 of the October 3, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY-Bargain hunters won't spare it a glance, but the curious may realize that there's
something out of the ordinary at the Beyer Collections, Tribal Arts and Antiquities store here.

The artifacts on sale in this two-week-old Baguio antiquities shop carry the brand name Henry Otley
Beyer.

And to buy old Ifugao wooden helmets with intricate carvings or odd black shiny stones labeled
Rizalites, one will have to pass the scholastic scrutiny of Henry N. Beyer II, the shop's
62-year-old owner and grandson of the late American anthropologist regarded as the country's
foremost expert in Philippine antiquities.

Henry II is selling many of his grandfather's archaeological heirlooms, some practically invaluable
because they are prehistoric relics dating back 10,000 years.

Buyers will have to be as worthy as the artifacts, he said, because these items carry the late Henry
Otley Beyer's "soul."

Every item in the collection has a story, which Beyer meticulously documented. These artifacts have
since become part of the country's priceless body of knowledge, the younger Henry II said.

For example, the trays of Rizalites stored in the Beyer family loft are actually tektites the old
Beyer had uncovered from various archeological expeditions, which he named after Jose Rizal.

Tektites are believed to be meteorite fragments, and Beyer is reputed to own the world's largest
collection.

Henry II said the Ifugao helmets, which bear carvings of faces, were dug up before World War II and
may be 1,000 years old. An Ifugao helmet, which was auctioned off in 1988 at the Christie's in
London, sold for $13,000, he said.

Henry Otley Beyer migrated to Banaue, Ifugao, home of the world famous rice terraces, after meeting
some of the people who built them at the 1904 St. Louis Purchase Centennial Exposition.

"Unable to find US funding to sustain his study of Ifugao ethnography and to dig for Philippine
fossils, Beyer decided to apply as a Filipino teacher," Henry II said.

Beyer passed the Philippine civil service examinations during the colonial American regime, married
Banaue lass Linglayu, and settled down to build an interesting Philippine career.

Beyer helped put up the Department of Anthropology of the University of the Philippines. His works
on prehistoric Luzon and the world famous terraces formed the foundation for Philippine
anthropology.

Henry II said his grandfather had also engaged in the trade of relics because he accepted
commissions to stock foreign museums with Philippine archaeological specimens.

But Beyer was no tomb raider, Henry II said, because of his grandfather's sensitivity to the
Igorots' cultural vulnerability.

"He documented a lot about the Benguet mummies, but he never disclosed their location for fear they
would be ransacked," Henry II said.

He said it was his grandfather's vocation as a museum relic hunter that gave the family the idea
that an antiquities market can be profitable.

The Beyer antiquities store is not Henry II's first venture.

A business management graduate, he managed an Ifugao artifact shop in Ermita for 10 years until 1994
when a Manila cleanup drive in Ermita discouraged his American clients from returning to their
block.

Henry II said he wanted to be an aeronautical engineer, but he was forced to stop school to take
care of the ailing Beyer at Diliman in 1964.

Of all the Beyer grandchildren, Henry II was the only one Beyer understood.

"[Beyer] could only understand the dialect and accent of the Banawe speaker. My other brothers [from
different mothers] spoke Ifugao but with an eastern Ifugao accent, and my grandfather could not
understand them very well, so I spent two years taking care of him until he died," Henry II said.

He said it was the most important moment of his adult life.

After Beyer was buried, the anthropologist's only son William asked Henry II to work at the
Beyer-owned Banaue View Inn in 1966.

The hotel burned down in 1968, but Henry II had managed to invest enough of his time in learning
about his grandfather's transactions in antiquity trading to consider a business career.

Henry II said it was important because Beyer's death also meant the loss of his celebrated
collections.

William sold Beyer's porcelain specimens for $100,000 to a private collector in the 1960s. The
family sold Beyer's 40,000-book collection to the Australian government for A$200,000.

But the whole Beyer collection was decimated when government confiscated many of the specimens by
presidential proclamation during martial law, Henry II said.

The government wanted the Beyer family to donate the collections for a show being produced by former
First lady Imelda Marcos, in exchange for appointing William as Ifugao's first governor.

The old Mt. Province had just been broken down into smaller Cordillera provinces.

"[My father] did not accept, because he [told me] the position is elective and he will not stay
there for long," Henry II said.

Henry II said his last inventory of the collections at the National Museum, where the Beyer
specimens were stored, revealed that the most valuable items had been spirited away.

Selling what's left of the collections in the Beyer family's care may seem illogical, Henry II said.

But he said Beyer Collections, Tribal Arts and Antiquities "is a stepping stone to selling genuine
artifacts constructed using indigenous technology from Ifugao, because I want to promote the
knowledge my grandfather set down on paper."

The shop sells three generations worth of Beyer legacies, because heirs have started updating the
collections with new finds, he said.

A great, great granddaughter of the eminent anthropologist has decided to pursue an archaeological
career herself, he added.

Copyright 2005 Inquirer News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



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Received on Sun 02 Oct 2005 07:16:40 PM PDT